Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Yelsew Z — 21 Dec 2015

A definite improvement over the first Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back is more action packed and more emotionally driven. There were a lot more emotional scenes when Ham was being frozen in the machine and Chewie trying to fight back and Han telling him that it's alright and that someone needs to watch over Leia and more action scenes including the battle at Hoth with the imperial walkers.

We see that Luke has significantly grown more mature since the first movie where he was a lot more whiney and a brat. Luke is now a commander of the Rebels and takes a lot more initiative than before.

I mentioned earlier that ESB is a lot more emotionally driven. Its the various scenes between Han and Leia and the rest of the crew that really demonstrate that the writers know how to develop the characters.

I really enjoyed the scenes when Luke was training with Yoda. Yoda looks great ad a puppet and they really should have kept him a puppet in the prequels, but then again, Yoda would look awkward against all the CGI.

I found this installment of the franchise a lot more funnier and more personal. It really felt like you were in a galaxy far, far, away. Darth Vader is menacing presence throughout the film. He gives no second chances and is just so much more dark and brooding than he was in A New Hope where he was really only in a few scenes.

This film did a really good job fleshing out his character to actually make you as a viewer realize that he is a force to be reckoned with. (pun intended) All in all, The Empire Strikes Back deserves the name because well, the empire struck back, and it struck back hard.

The feeling of defeat you feel as it slowly goes downhill for these characters that actually feel alive and real. But this feeling does not last forever, the Jedi will return. And it will return stronger than ever.